Theoretical and Experimental Insights into Decentralized Combinatorial Auctions

Combinatorial Auctions (CAs) are promising to increase so-cial welfare by enabling bidders to express their valuationon any combination of items. A major issue of many CAsis the requirement to optimally solve the NP-hard Combi-natorial Allocation Problem. To release a centralized auc-tioneer from that computational burden he can shift it tothe bidders. One of the few discussed decentralized auc-tions is PAUSE, in which bidders suggest new allocations tothe auctioneer. In our theoretical analysis we examine thebidders\u27 bid complexity and determine a worst case boundconcerning eciency, if bidders follow a prot maximizingstrategy. Based on these results we conduct computationalexperiments with dierent bidding and computation strate-gies, and analyze their impact on eciency, auctioneer\u27s rev-enue and auction runtime. Surprisingly, even if agents de-viate from the optimal bid price calculation, PAUSE stillachieves high levels of eciency and auctioneer\u27s revenuecompared to the Combinatorial Clock auction

Nonverbal Semantics Test (NVST)—A Novel Diagnostic Tool to Assess Semantic Processing Deficits: Application to Persons with Aphasia after Cerebrovascular Accident

Assessment of semantic processing capacities often relies on verbal tasks which are, however, sensitive to impairments at several language processing levels. Especially for persons with aphasia there is a strong need for a tool that measures semantic processing skills independent of verbal abilities. Furthermore, in order to assess a patient’s potential for using alternative means of communication in cases of severe aphasia, semantic processing should be assessed in different nonverbal conditions. The Nonverbal Semantics Test (NVST) is a tool that captures semantic processing capacities through three tasks—Semantic Sorting, Drawing, and Pantomime. The main aim of the current study was to investigate the relationship between the NVST and measures of standard neurolinguistic assessment. Fifty-one persons with aphasia caused by left hemisphere brain damage were administered the NVST as well as the Aachen Aphasia Test (AAT). A principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted across all AAT and NVST subtests. The analysis resulted in a two-factor model that captured 69% of the variance of the original data, with all linguistic tasks loading high on one factor and the NVST subtests loading high on the other. These findings suggest that nonverbal tasks assessing semantic processing capacities should be administered alongside standard neurolinguistic aphasia tests. View Full-Tex

A blue light receptor that mediates RNA binding and translational regulation

Sensory photoreceptor proteins underpin light-dependent adaptations in nature and enable the optogenetic control of organismal behavior and physiology. We identified the bacterial light-oxygen-voltage (LOV) photoreceptor PAL that sequence-specifically binds short RNA stem loops with around 20 nM affinity in blue light and weaker than 1 µM in darkness. A crystal structure rationalizes the unusual receptor architecture of PAL with C-terminal LOV photosensor and N-terminal effector units. The light-activated PAL–RNA interaction can be harnessed to regulate gene expression at the RNA level as a function of light in both bacteria and mammalian cells. The present results elucidate a new signal-transduction paradigm in LOV receptors and conjoin RNA biology with optogenetic regulation, thereby paving the way toward hitherto inaccessible optoribogenetic modalities

Ursache von Gleichtaktstörströmen in induktiven Ladesystemen (WPT-Systeme) und Vergleich zwischen gemessenen Störströmen mit der Feldstärkemessung

Induktive Ladesysteme oder WPT-Systeme (WPT= Wireless Power Transfer) für Elektrofahrzeuge, wie in Abbildung 1 dargestellt, werden seit einigen Jahren in unterschiedlichen Normungsgremien diskutiert. Die funktionale Beschreibung, z.B. Interoperabilität zwischen verschiedenen Systemen, strebt langsam einer Konsenslösung entgegen. Schließlich sollen die Normen der IEC 61980-Serie [2][3][5], der SAE J 2954 [8] und der ISO 19363 [6] noch im Jahr 2020 veröffentlicht bzw. aktualisiert werden. Die Anforderungen an die Störaussendung von WPT-Systemen werden jedoch noch intensiv in den Normungsgremien diskutiert. Aufgrund ihrer Eigenschaft, die Energie mittels eines hochfrequenten Signals zu übertragen, werden WPT-Systeme in der CISPR 11 als ISM-Geräte der Gruppe 2 eingeordnet. Entsprechend beschäftigt sich die Normenarbeitsgruppe CISPR/B mit einer Erweiterung der Norm um die Beschreibung der Messanforderungen für WPT-Systeme und der Vorgabe von Grenzwerten [4]. Induktive Ladesysteme übertragen die Energie mittels eines magnetischen Wechselfeldes zwischen zwei gekoppelten Resonanzkreisen, wie es Bild 1 zeigt. Für das Laden von PKWs mit einer Leistung zwischen 3. . . 22 kW wird eine Frequenz im Bereich zwischen 79. . . 90 kHz verwendet, auf welche die Resonanzkreise abgestimmt sind. Nahe am Resonanzpunkt kompensieren sich die imaginären Anteile der Impedanz und es wird im Wesentlichen Wirkleistung übertragen. Aufgrund der offenen Koppelstruktur existieren Streufelder, welche als Störaussendung bei der Feldstärkemessung zu bewerten sind

National Study of American Indian Education Research Reports. Vol. III. Teachers and curriculum for American Indian Youth.

Two papers are included in this 1970 report: Curriculum for American Indian Youth" and "Teachers for American Indian Youth.""Distributed by the Office of Community Programs, Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, University of Minnesota